Wednesday, January 2, 2013

G&P Review: Under Vultures/466/64

Under Vultures/466/64SplitBandcamp466/64 is either a reference to Nelson Mandela's prison number, the fashion company he's not affiliated with or a math nerd way to name your band 7.28125, the IP address for a chunk of Columbus, Ohio. But it's hard to tell what they have in mind because their web presence is absolutely nil. But you'd think these Canary Islanders (now there's a part of the globe we don't usually hear from) would want to shout their name from the rooftops after they backended their share of this 2011 split album with 15 songs of a sweet ass Looking for an Answer-style hostility. 466/64 have actual riffs buried under their feral aggression, like the serpentine wiggle of "Monstruo." I've listened to a metric fuck-ton of grind in my life so it's not every day some out of nowhere band (from an out of nowhere corner of the world) comes along and de-socks-es me, but 466/64 had me hitting up Google Earth to plan my next vacation in what sure must be grindcore's next holy land.None of that gushing is to overlook the mighty work Spain's Under Vultures do opening up the album. Playing Nashgul to 466/64's Looking for an Answer, Under Vultures bring a burlier, thick-bodied slamming that leans heavily on the rusty, serrated guitar tone. The comparison only goes so far because Under Vultures don't have the same tunesmith knack that erupted from Nashgul's empty grave and they are not shy about falling back on unadulterated blastbeats when they need to move a song along. The band's strongest selling point will likely be the vocal tradeoffs between dedicated screamers Fran and Sebax, creating a screech versus growl interplay that punctuates and advances the songs even when the songwriting falls into a chugging/blasting rut.This one's up for free download on Under Vultures' Bandcamp page. You'd be wise to avail yourself of that opportunity. Look for me jamming this one on some Spanish beach somewhere in the near future.